Terminology

There are Dauntless terms that are used in and around the game, with the goal of simple, clear and rapid communication. This is a list of these terms and their definitions.

Please contribute to the page by adding more terms and definitions alphabetically.

A

 * AA : Aetheric Attunement
 * AcSav : Acidic and Savagery
 * Adds : Short for Additional Enemies spawned by the behemoth, often posing little threat to the Slayers
 * AF : Aetheric Frenzy
 * AFG : Away From Game, refers to players who are not current playing the game, can be functionally identical to AFK, or mean a player taking an extended break from playing, e.g. They've been AFG since the last major patch
 * AFK : Away From Keyboard, refers to players who are not in control of their Slayer
 * AFK Timer: The amount of time before a Slayer is removed due to inactivity, a Slayer will be transported back to Ramsgate after 3 minutes during hunts or return to the main menu if idle in Ramsgate for 30 minutes
 * Aggro : Short for "aggression," refers to the targeting priority by the behemoth
 * AO : Avenging Overdrive
 * AoE : Area of Effect
 * AS : Contextually:
 * Attack Speed
 * Aether Strikers


 * AV : Aether Vent

B

 * Besca : Blaze Escalation
 * BIS : Best In Slot, the best choice for a given slot in a loadout
 * Blazakiri : Flameborn Rezakiri
 * Bond : The non-legendary weapon bound to legendary one that provides a Unique Effect and Perk, see Bond
 * Boop : An interrupt, or the act of interrupting a behemoth
 * Boop, Boops, Booped, Boopable


 * Buff : A positive effect applied to the Slayer; or a change through a patch to make a game mechanic stronger for Slayers
 * Bug : Contextually:
 * Kharabak, less commonly Rezakiri
 * An instance of game behaviour deviating from the intended design


 * Build : The collections of items, skills, etc. that a player equips to their character

C

 * Carry : A player who is overgeared, strong, or highly skilled that assists weaker or non-skilled players through hunts
 * Casc : Cascade
 * CBs : Chain Blades
 * Cheese : Originating from "cheesy;" often refers to tactics or strategies that are cheap, unfair, or overly easy to overcome an otherwise difficult task, typically by bypassing intended mechanics
 * Clap : Refers to the Aether Striker's Titan's Crash ability, often when empowered
 * Conditional Extension : The mechanism by which dodging an early component of an attack can protect from a later one
 * CZ : Combat Zone, the area slayers fight behemoths with an Aether Event in its centre

D

 * Debuff : A negative status effect applied on the Slayer
 * Disc : Discipline
 * DoT : Damage over Time
 * DPS : Damage Per Second

E

 * EF : Evasive Fury
 * End Game : The gameplay status for Slayers who completed the main questline, unlocked most (if not, all) unlockables, and farmed an abundance of resources
 * Energy : Sometimes used referring to the Stamina resource
 * Esca : Escalation
 * Exp : Experience

F

 * Farming : To repeat hunts for Reagents and/or Currencies, see also Grinding
 * Fresca : Frost Escalation
 * Flameshot : Flameborn Quillshot
 * Flawless :A level of play in which the Slayer is expected to dodge all attacks and not receive any damage, commonly, but not strictly, associated with Predator

G

 * Gary : A colloquial term for a Smollusk, also used in the form a Radiant Gary
 * GH : Good Hunt
 * GL : Good Luck
 * GLHF : Good Luck, Have Fun
 * Griefer : A player who deliberately irritates or harasses other players
 * Grinding : To repeat hunts and/or tasks in a repetitive and time-consuming manner for Reagents and/or Currencies, often in order to advance

H

 * Half Health : Referring to builds using perks like Rage and Wild Frenzy that rely on being below 50% health, often paired with Discipline, often as Half Health Builds, or the Half Health Meta
 * Hesca : As of yet unreleased Heroic Escalations
 * HG : Hunting Grounds
 * HP : Contextually:
 * Health Points or Hit Points; the amount of damage a Slayer can receive before being Downed
 * Hunt Pass

I

 * IB : Iceborne
 * iFrames : Invincibility/Invulnerability Frames, a period during a dodge when you cannot take damage
 * Instakill : "Instant Kill:" when a full-health or nearly full-health behemoth is slain within such sort of time, they are unable to react
 * Interrupt Trading : Refers to interrupts where the Slayer also gets hit by the behemoth

K

 * Keystone : The final boss of an Escalation
 * Kit : A weapon's set of attack moves and abilities
 * KoK : Knockout King

L

 * Lag : A slow response from the Slayer or Server due to high latency
 * Lag Spike : A sudden, momentary period of intense lag
 * Leap : Reckless Leap
 * LF : "Looking For"
 * LFG : "Looking For Group" - someone wants to join a group
 * LFM : "Looking for Member" - someone offers free slots in their party
 * LL : Low Life, referring to builds using perks like Rage and Wild Frenzy that rely on being below 50% health, often paired with Discipline
 * LS : Lifesteal
 * Loadout : The collections of items, skills, etc. that a player equips to their character

M

 * Main : The weapon or build that a player specializes in, typically in the context of an "X main"
 * Malk : Malkarion
 * Meta : Refers to the community's most popular and most effective Slayer loadouts, recently a backronym for Most Effective Tactics Available, originally referring to the concepts of metagaming
 * Mobs : Enemies in any video game, can refer to all enemies or simply non-boss, non-named enemies translating as non-behemoth enemies in Dauntless
 * Mog : Transmog, a cosmetic skin for a piece of equipment
 * MS : Movement Speed
 * MV : Motion Value, the raw base damage of a move or motion

N

 * Nerf : A change through a patch intended to weaken a game mechanic, often for balancing purposes
 * Noob :Short for "newbie" and sometimes spelled as "newb," is often a pejorative term to refer to players who are new to the game

O

 * One-Trick Pony : Refers to Slayers who can play only one weapon effectively
 * OP : Overpower

P

 * Perk Economy : Refers to a Slayer's loadout where they combine weapons, armour, and cells to gain up to +30 perk effects (+6 tiers for each perk)
 * PHX : Phoenix Labs
 * PHXL : Phoenix Labs
 * PLABS : Phoenix Labs
 * Ping : Also network latency between the player's client and the server
 * Pot : Another term for "potions" or "tonics"
 * Pred : Predator
 * Proc : Short for programmed random occurrence, typically activated or triggered by the Slayer(s)

R

 * Rams : Contextual:
 * Rams, typical use
 * Ramsgate, occasional contraction


 * RD : Reaper's Dance
 * Rev : Short for Revive
 * Reza : Rezakiri
 * Rez : Short for resurrection, meaning Revive, also Res, Ress and Rezz
 * RH : Ragehunter
 * rDMG : Real or raw damage, used to refer to bonuses that affect Core Damage as well as Part Damage, Wound Damage and Stagger Damage, effects in game that simple list "damage" will be considered an rDMG boost
 * Rift : Riftstalker
 * RNG : Random Number Generation, refers to the game mechanics to simulate randomness

S

 * Sav : Savagery
 * Sesca : Shock Escalation
 * Skarnacious : The synergistic combination of Skarn weapons and Tenacious
 * Spear : War Pike
 * Spin2Win : A strategy where the Slayer focuses on using the Sword's Special Ardent Cyclone, the Chain Blade's Spinning Blades combo, or the War Pike's Aether Harvest combo to do high amounts of damage
 * Sporemane : Sporestruck Embermane
 * Sporrogg : Sporestruck Charrogg
 * Staggerlock : A mechanism by which staggers or stagger-like effects, e.g. part breaks are applied in succession to lock the behemoth in a downed state
 * Staggerlock, Staggerlocks, Staggerlocked, Staggerlockable


 * Stim : A revive stim, replaces the Healing Flask when Downed
 * SW : Savage Wellspring

T

 * Tena : Tenacious
 * Terramane : Sporestruck Embermane
 * Tesca : Terra Escalation
 * Torg : Torgadoro
 * Town : A term referring to Ramsgate
 * Trash Wave : Refers to the horde of Hostile Fauna that spawns in between behemoth encounters during an Island Event
 * TS : Twin Suns

U

 * UE : The Unique Effect of a Weapon or Prism
 * Uesca : Umbral Escalation

V

 * Valo : Valomyr


 * VO : Valiant Overdrive

W

 * Weap : Short for weapon
 * Weedwacking : A community term meaning to disengage from a Nayzaga, or a Trial behemoth with the Static Shock Modifier, to break its lightning spires, often when they accumulated in high amounts.
 * WF : Wild Frenzy
 * Wipe : The hunt conditon where all Slayers are downed and unable to revive, resulting in a forced retreat to Ramsgate. On the Hunting Grounds, the Danger Meter rapidly spikes whenever a party wipes, often resulting in the behemoth fleeing.
 * wLvl : Another term for Weapon Skill level, sometimes specified with a number

X

 * Xp : Experience

Z

 * Zerk : Berserker
 * Zone : Combat Zone